Photographic slides of Himalayan flora and fauna accompanied by commentary

Speaker: Dr Ajay Singh Rawat, former Professor of History, Kumaon University, and author of Forestry in Central Himalayas and Forest History of Mountainous Regions of the World

Followed by a dialogue with Shri Vijay Bhushan, Member of the State Wildlife Board of Himachal Pradesh, and Executive Director, Narain Dharamarth Aushdhalaya Trust, highlighting Dr Rawat's work as environmental activist.

Waste and Water Management in IndiaSpeaker: Ms Sunita Narain, Director-General, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE)

Chair: Prof M.G.K. Menon, Life Trustee, India International Centre

People in cities get water in their houses, discharge waste, and see their rivers die. They don’t make the connection between flush toilets and dying rivers. Ferreting out data from government offices, CSE mapped 71 cities, to uncover innumerable cases where what we know today as a drain was once a river. The Report calls for decisive and wholesale change, lest we stand accused of deliberate ‘hydrocide’.

Second in a new series of discussions being coordinated by Shri Ramswamy R. Iyer that aims at understanding what has been happening to rivers across India and drawing appropriate lessons. A certain number of rivers, some sick or dying, some living and healthy, and some showing early signs of sickness, will be taken up for presentations and discussion, and an attempt made to understand what has gone wrong in many cases, what has gone right in some, and what needs to be done to revive and restore dying or sick rivers.

Chair: Shri Ramaswamy R. Iyer

Presentations by: Shri Manoj Misra former member of the Indian Forest, currently with the Peace Institute at Delhi and Convener of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan; and Prof Brij Gopal, former professor of Environmental Sciences, JNU and former Secretary General, National Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences.